Whats Up With My Unfriendly Coin Dealer?

There's a coin shop close to where I live and it's run by older guys. Me being a younger guy seems to peeve them off I think. Everytime I want to look at something, they look at you like you cant afford it. Whats worse it when you politely request to look at something, they wont let you handle any note or coin. I'm thinking, how to heck can I buy anything from you guys. lol. anyway, it's their loss. Some people just lose business without even knowing it.

Hey banknotelover,
Next time reach into your pocket, pull out your "coin/banknote" budget for the day
and put it on the counter, and say, POLITELY,
"Would you like to see the color of my money?"

Hey, I'm gonna take this advice myself!

I agree with GR58. I too have been on both sides of the counter and some people are just a pain to deal with when they enter the store. You get hardened dealing with their type over time and it gets harder to be more friendly with the rest. I've learned from those experiences and now when entering coin stores I am there to do business. I don't take up a lot of time with idle chat unless the dealer is open, out going, and wanting to talk. I am always courteous and never knock any of their coins when looking at them. Anything I don't like, I politely hand back and tell them I think I'll pass. Dealers can pick up on your attitude and will respond accordingly.

quote: "There's always a friendly guy somewhere else."
- when you meet him, please tell me where that place is ...

@Ragpicker: You opened to can of worms about coin shows I thought I'd share:
Back in April when I just was just getting serious about coin collecting (Lesson one: Learning the different between "shiny" and "keeper") I noticed an ad online for a "coin show" at a hotel 5 minutes from my apartment, and I decided to check it out.

The bummer was it turned out to be more of a "Token" show, and the only coins there were way above my price range at the time. But I decided to stick around and check it out what was there. I will say most of the sellers there didn't own coin shops, they were private collectors, and were very pleasant to chat with.

Sadly no one had anything really that interested me (one lady was selling pet collar tags of all kinds...) except one guy had a small collection of Masonic Tokens, which grabbed my attention. I was looking through it, and I'm trying to strike up a conversation with the guy. He wasn't distracted by another customer (the show was kind of dead) because no one was looking at his stuff, and he was just sitting there staring off into space. Finally in the span of asking 3 or 4 questions, I found an Masonic Coin from a guy from my local Lodge:
http://www.victoriaregalia.com/prod...onicCoin.jpg gives you an idea of the point of the coin.

So I decided I wanted to purchase the token, I pulled the flip out, and as soon as I was going to tell him I was going to buy the token, he cut me off and said "Look Kid, either buy something or go away and stop bothering me."

I put the token back and left.

The whole point of the story: A few weeks later I decided to drive around on my day off and check out some local coin shops I had never been to. One of the ones I walk into has the same guy standing BEHIND the counter. We both make eye contact, we both recognize each other, and he says, "Yea,... no way I can get you to stick around and be a customer?" I said, "Nope!", and walked out. He knew he lost my business at the show.

And to the OP: I would agree that if you don't feel comfortable spending your money at that store because of the customer service, take your business elsewhere.

Thanks guys for your replies.

Well this guy is just "one of those" I suppose, and he might warm up to me after awhile, I suppose, but I've been going there for like 4 years, like once every two months, and lately more often. Theres almost never anyone else in there. And he doesn't sell online, I asked him. But I suppose it doesn't really matter, theres nothing I can do about it. Hes not bad tempered, just quiet.

But a note to everyone reading this thread: to coin dealers and collectors alike: BE FRIENDLY when youre at a show, shop, etc. Itll pay off.

Every time this subject of a dealers attitude comes up it reminds me that sometimes, it works to our advantage. I've told this story before. At a coin show they were so busy, they had to open up a second room for all the dealers. Right by the door a dealer was just sitting at his table talking to what may have been a friend. On his table was a can of Buffalo nickels with a sign saying 3 for $1. I picked up a few and the first one was a 37D 3 legged one. I tried to ask the dealer if he knew what was in that can but he looked at me, grumped something like I just bought that mess and went back to talking to his friend. I picked up about 15 of those Nickels and again tried to tell him about what is in that can and again, he almost looked like he was going to really get mad. Turned back to his friend and one last time I said sorry to bother you but I have 15 of them so here is my $5. He grabbed it and just turned away and back to his friend.
Sure wish I had bought all of them. Every one was in at least EF-40 or better and all differnt dates and as I said, one was the 3 legged one.